The drugs shipment was organised by an international crime network in the weeks before one of Australia's biggest organised crime probes, Operation Hoffman, arrested key syndicate members.

Police working with Operation Hoffman seized 28 kilograms of the heroin in Sydney when they arrested two of the syndicate members in August, but 70 kilograms made its way to a notorious Sydney heroin dealer, and 77 kilograms to two senior Comancheros figures.

Underworld sources have confirmed that about two weeks later the same two Comancheros figures kidnapped, bashed and tortured the Sydney heroin dealer to obtain his 70 kilograms, causing ructions in the east coast underworld.

They forced the drug dealer to pull over in Sydney's inner west by flashing police-issue undercover blue and red lights at him as he drove.

But when he got out of the car, in an alley behind a hotel, one of the men fired a single shot from a nine-millimetre pistol and the dealer was then bundled into the car and taken to an unknown location.

There he was handcuffed, bashed and tortured. Eventually he told them the location of his 70 kilograms of heroin, as well as a stash of cash worth between $700,000 and $1 million.

It is understood that the 147 kilograms the two Comancheros men now have is set to be sold in Sydney and Melbourne.

Sources suggest the importation comprised 500 350-gram blocks of heroin and is almost double the total heroin seizures by law enforcement in the 12 months to June 2009.

The heroin theft and sales by the two Comancheros figures are seen by some underworld sources as an attempt by the men to capitalise on the arrests of senior crime figures by Operation Hoffman, which finished last month.

Last month The Age revealed that Operation Hoffman — a two-year, multi-agency probe led by the Australian Crime Commission — exposed an international drug importation network of Chinese triads, Comancheros bikies, corrupt officials and waterfront workers.

One of the key Hoffman figures, Hakan Ayik, is on the run after New South Wales police issued an arrest warrant in August in connection to his alleged involvement in the heroin importation.

The collapse of the syndicate as well as the heroin importation and its consequences also opens a window into the disturbingly large world of transnational organised crime and the role it plays in Australia.

The revelation of the importation comes just a day after The Agerevealed that one of the world's most powerful organised crime syndicates, Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, had infiltrated Australia, importing more than half the cocaine on the east coast over the past two years.

The heroin importation also provides a strong example of how quickly crime figures seize the ground lost by their counterparts as a result of police disruption and arrests.

One of the two Comancheros linked to the theft of the heroin and its recent distribution is one of the Comancheros' most senior figures.

Since the drug rip-off the pair have made no secret of their crime, and have been proclaiming its success loudly around Sydney.

The blatant ripoffs have also served to increase the reputation of the Comancheros' influence.

"They made a lifetime earn, and they've said to everyone, 'Mate, we've got it, it's us, come get it'," an underworld source told The Age. "And no one's stepping up, so let me tell you, [the Comancheros] will be the biggest, hardest gang in Sydney. F---in' untouchable."

A senior law enforcement source said the ripoff had resulted in a huge amount of nervousness in the criminal milieu in both Sydney and Melbourne, where the Comancheros opened up a new chapter last year. "There'll be a whole lot of drug dealers very, very concerned about what they did, because if they've done it once, they could do it again," he said.

**More: Comanchero Motorcycle Club

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